Lady or the Tiger - or the Cruelty of Fairness

This is a look back at one of my favorite short stories, Frank Stockton's classic, "The Lady of the Tiger"

If you haven't read it yet, you can find it right here.


Warning, spoilers abound.



But if you have read "The Lady or the Tiger," you'd know that that warning is moot.

The frustration that one might feel upon reaching that particular ending can be likened to asking someone for advice and instead of that moment of clarity that you were seeking, the response is a passive-aggressive, "Well, what do you think?"　As if a magic mirror held to your face will solve everything.

Of course, it's these moments when we are faced with the most insurmountable of conundrums that we actually do have to face ourselves, and recognize who we are.

Because whatever we think the ending may be, the lady or the tiger, is a reflection of how we view the world.

It may seem obvious to many that the semi-barbaric princess would choose the tiger, since the evidence stacked against the lady seem insurmountable. The semi-barbaric nature, the jealousy one would feel, all point that the youth is doomed.

However, as much as she is semi-barbaric, I choose to see the princess as semi-civilized, and that her love for the young man is indeed true. Thus, if it were true then somewhere mixed in that cold semi-barbaric blood of hers, flows the warmth of compassion that concurrently pumps through her veins.

After all, what else would explain the unwavering trust that the youth placed in the hands of our fearsomely beautiful princess?

Well, love, of course. Or perhaps foolishness.

If foolishness is indeed the answer, then I fear there is no hope left in the world.

We are all, after all, semi-barbarians in this semi-civilized world. It's as if we were dangling in a pit with no choice to but to plummet to the certainty of our demise, rather than climb the precarious, improbable rope to which we are clinging on.

If we let the darkness take hold, then we will never really be able to see the light.

Of course, the certainty of the outcome is never truly guaranteed. We half-make our choices in life blindly. Perhaps the only real fools are the ones who are certain of the certainty of their choices.

Take the semi-barbaric monarch, who is probably more barbaric than anything else. His brand of justice ensures an unhappy ending for the young man, perhaps more so for his daughter. The Tiger brings not only death to the young man, but also the guilt of killing her beloved; The Lady on the other hand brings about potentially a lifetime of jealousy.

He is justifiably proud of his creation - a justice system that not only ensures his personal satisfaction, but one that presents itself as impartial judge that is at its very core - fair.

How could it not be fair? The judgment is based not on the discernment of a human judge or jury, both of which are susceptible to bias. Real justice systems are always subject to the danger of this imagined sense of fairness, so why not remove this variable and just accept that the outcome is inherently absurd, thus any judgment, as long as it is swiftly, and even-handedly passed can be deemed acceptable. In this case, the judge is the combined choice of the accused and the equally imagined concept of poetic justice. The illusion of free will, when the outcome has already been predetermined.

For someone like me who is perpetually insecure of my place in life,  I cannot help see but doors in front of me that either lead of success or failure. The blindness to the outcome and necessity of choice leaves me with a sense of powerlessness.

For instance, with this whole immigration brouhaha in the US against illegal immigrants, as a holder of a powerless passport, I have to apply for a visa just to even visit the US. The rigorous preparation process, not to mention the literal high cost, can take its toll on you as it chips away at your confidence. One can prepare all you want, but at the end of the day once you get to your personal interview, you are assigned to a consul who will go over your documents and determine your credibility as an individual.

Of course, they're professional. I'm not even being sarcastic here. Even when you ignore all the myths and hearsays that a certain kind of consul will be kinder, the truth is there are illegal immigrants granted access to "the land of the free" and perfectly legitimate travelers are denied entry.

Yeah, I got my visa in the end. It was inevitable, as many of my friends said. After all, how could they deny you given all my credentials? Well, I can tell you that all those words of encouragement and assurances don't mean much when they come from people who never had to, and never will, go through that. Especially when you're there at that moment, being talked down to and scrutinized from head to toe.

Was the system fair? Possibly. Justified even. However, in the grand scheme of things, it was nevertheless quite ludicrous. Because, even with the visa in my hands right now, I never had the satisfaction of feeling like I won. Only Uncle Sam has that. Much like the semi-barbaric king of our semi-barbaric kingdom.

Faced with such absurd odds, how does one even gain a sense of satisfaction, when the system itself is designed to make you fail?

First, it is essential to identify what is inherently cruel about the system. In this case, it is the illusion of fairness hidden behind a binary choice that is thrust upon you. This is absolutism that things are only either right or wrong. Guilty or innocent. When of course the spectrum of human experience tells us otherwise. This in itself is encoded in the story. The princess isn't good or evil, she falls somewhere in between.

Even if the choice itself in this situation is binary, within that choice is enough wiggle room for us to own that it. Perhaps bravely face death? Or steely kiss the other maiden as a key to a second chance at life. Either way, like the semi-barbaric king, the ending will always be half a relief and half a tragedy.